Underage drinking, homeless accessibility to liquor top public safety concerns about Mobile's proposed entertainment district

Patrons walk around Dauphin Street with open containers of alcohol during the 15th annual Dauphin Street Beer Festival Saturday Aug. 25, 2012. The Mobile City Council could, on Tuesday, enact an ordinance creating two entertainment districts allowing drinking on city streets and sidewalks legal in certain areas along Dauphin and elsewhere in downtown Mobile. (File photo)

MOBILE, Alabama – Two new entertainment districts could be
formed as soon as Tuesday, but Mobile Police Chief Micheal T. Williams has
concerns about what it could mean for public safety in downtown Mobile.

Williams said he has several concerns as it pertains to
underage drinking along Dauphin Street, homeless people accessing open containers
of liquor within Bienville Square and elsewhere, and the potential need to add
extra police personnel at a time when he said his department's staffing is
stretched thin.

"From what I've read, I think they need to go back and look
at the (proposed ordinance)," Williams said this week.

The chief's concerns also include the potential of having
Mobile's downtown inundated with lewd or drunken behavior that includes public
urination at a time when the city is attempting to lure more out-of-town
visitors for conventions.

District supporters generally say they understand
Williams' concerns, but also stress that the entertainment district is a
product of the Alabama state Legislature, and that other cities – Orange Beach and
Montgomery, namely – already have established entertainment districts. Orange
Beach has two including The Wharf; Montgomery's entertainment district centers
around The Alley, a trendy development near downtown hotels.

The Mobile City Council will likely receive a copy of the proposed
ordinance on Monday and it could come up for a vote Tuesday.

"You're not going to make a decision of this magnitude
without both positive and negative factors to consider," said David Rasp, owner
of two downtown establishments – Heroes Sports Bar & Grille and The Royal
Scam. "What it would appear to me is that there is potentially, and that is the
word I would stress, a potentially huge win for the city to have."

Chief concerns

Williams hopes the district doesn't become a potential crime
haven, especially when it comes to underage drinking.

"We think if we allow
parties in the streets that people will start passing around alcohol in bottles
and that makes enforcement of underage people down there more difficult,"
Williams said. "When we have officers down there and thousands of people, it
makes it difficult (to enforce). It would create an issue."

He said the city has improved on underage drinking in recent
years. In 2012, the department conducted 165 underage drinking checks at local
businesses and found only 18 businesses illegally selling to minors. That's an
improvement from 2011, when out of 275 checks, 92 locations were in violation.

"Those numbers are getting better as people pay more
attention," Williams said. "If we open up our downtown are and allow people to
drink in public in the streets and sidewalks, we think it will cause an issue."

He added, "Certainly when we have these large group of folks
and underage people down there, 18 to 20 years old, it's hard for us to go and
check ID's for all those people we suspect," Williams said. "A lot of folks
will look young to me. It's hard to tell how old some of these people are."

Carol Hunter, spokeswoman with the Downtown Mobile Alliance,
a quasi-government agency that works to improve the area and has assisted in
developing the entertainment district ordinance, said fines can be hefty for
underage drinkers caught within the district. She said a first time offender
will be given a $250 ticket.

"We specifically wanted that in the ordinance," Hunter said.

Underage drinking isn't Williams' only worry. He also said
DUI's could rise and that homeless people who often are spotted in Bienville
Square could have easier access to liquor.

To view the proposed boundaries of Mobile’s two entertainment districts, click here.

"If it's a 24 hour (district) and we have homeless people with
alcohol issues, I suspect they would congregate in Bienville Square and pass
(around liquor)," Williams said. "With people visiting our city and going into
the park to see intoxicated homeless folks is not a positive thing for us."

That law strengthened a previous regulation that prohibited "begging"
but did not define it.

Williams said while homeless resources are located near
downtown, he wants to establish a "balance" in preventing any future problems.

"We're trying to find a way to have a balance to keep those
guys in check and then to balance those things out downtown," he said.

Keeping that balance, especially with a new entertainment
district established, will require more police officers, Williams said.

The department is budgeted for 570 officers, though Williams
wants to see that increased to 600.

"We're down 21 officers right now ... certainly we'd have to
put more people down there," Williams said.

The Alabama Alcoholic Control Board will not enforce the
city's ordinance, but its officers will be on the look-out for liquor
violations.

Lt. Mike Cook, ABC district supervisor in Mobile and Baldwin
counties, said their focus will be making sure alcohol remains on the district's
streets and not illegally brought into clubs and taverns. The state law, which
allows the city to adopt an entertainment district ordinance, allows patrons to
take open containers of alcohol out of a tavern and into the district's
streets, but prohibits patrons from bringing open containers into a club or
tavern.

"Right now, alcohol cannot leave a premise," Cook said. "Our
focus would change from (not) allowing people into their establishments with
alcohol purchased from another (liquor) license holder."

In Orange Beach, where two districts were established last
year, Cook said there have been no problems.

Still, he said he understands Williams' concerns and will "definitely
try to support" the department "whatever way we can."

Three blocks omitted

Public safety aside, the proposed district's map omits a
three-block section of Dauphin Street between Franklin and Cedar streets.

Hunter, though, said that area mostly consists of residents.
Naude Gouws, owner of The Haberdasher, disagrees and says the area near The
Bicycle Shop, which is included within the district's proposed boundaries, has
more residential dwellings nearby.

"The bars will tell you that they were there first, which is
a bogus argument anyway," Hunter said. "The space is there and people who live
down there have every right for the enjoyment of their property."

The three blocks includes a couple of businesses – two furniture
stores, one whose owner is adamantly opposed to having the district where his
business is located. Neither owner returned calls for comment.

Dave Mathews, owner of The Alabama Music Box, said the area
around his establishment is not residential.

"The reasoning for excluding our block because it's a
residential block is complete garbage," he said. "It lends itself to see that
we're being targeted."

Gouws said the city opens itself to creating an enforcement
headache by removing three blocks of Dauphin Street. Under the proposal,
patrons with cups of alcohol will have to dump out their beverages whenever
walking three blocks between Franklin and Cedar along Dauphin – between the two
entertainment districts.

"By cutting out the middle section, I think it will create a
lot more problems than they anticipate," Gouws said.

Hunter said she doesn't think it will be a big deal, and
that the area would be marked with signage indicating that open containers of alcohol
are prohibited.

"It's not a huge issue, I believe," she said.

Hunter also stresses that the ordinance has a sunset
provision after one or year 15 months. She said it can be reviewed, amended or
killed altogether.

"If it's a disaster, we don't have to live with it forever,"
she said. "If it's a big success, it can be easily extended. If it needs to be
tweaked, we can do that."